Working With Words:
This year we will explore words in several different ways. I believe that the best way to teach words (or anything else, really...) is to be sure the learning is important and immediately useful to the children. Therefore, many times words and how they work are explored in the context of real print that we come across as a class. We might use the morning message to find the new sight word that we just learned. Or, we might read a book like Sheep In a Jeep that contains many words from the -eep word family, making us want to chart them.
We use other programs to teach word study as well. We will use the Words Their Way approach to teach word study in small groups. This program uses word sorts to help students understand the way that words work. Lessons are developmentally appropriate for each child based on the word features that each child is noticing, but confusing. Children build on their knowledge as the year goes on, moving at their own pace.
This year I will also be trying a phonics approach that was introduced to me by my colleagues in the multi-age program. The approach will lead the children to learn letters, handwriting, sight words and word families.
